214 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



interest to note, however, that the Pennsylvania and West Virginia popula- 

 tions of Carphophis belong to the subspecies amoemis. Dr. Orton, at my 

 request, has checked the Carnegie Museum's specimens (5 and 53, respective- 

 ly) from those two states, and all but one of them have the prefrontals and 

 internasals completely separated (as in typical amoenus). The exception is 

 CM 6919 from Nicholas County, in central West Virginia, which has the 

 two scales partially fused on one side of the head. The "Morton," Ohio 

 snake is a typical helenae. 



The single specimen from near Dayton, in Montgomery County (DPLM 

 65.44), is of special interest for two reasons. It is the only Carphophis extant 

 from southwestern Ohio and it helps to confirm Morse's (1904) published 

 record for Yellow Springs, Greene County. No other worm snakes have been 

 found in that section of the state despite the fact that the Dayton area has 

 been intensively worked in recent years. Harold |. Walter has supplied the 

 following details concerning the capture of the specimen: "I was tearing at the 

 edges of a stump about 2 feet in diameter and about 3 feet high, and, a'though 

 it was largely riddled with insect tunnels internally, it was quite dry and hard 

 and I exerted quite an effort in pulling pieces loose; the specimen came tum- 

 bling out as I tore a chunk from the upper edge of the stump. The loca'ity 

 was on a high, sloping hill and was in a fairly dense woods . . . that is on one 

 of a series of steep hills traversed by ravines and small streams which rise on 

 the higher, nearly flat land to the north. Trees have apparently been cut here 

 from time to time, and the hill upon which the snake was taken was open and 

 grassy in places with scattered stum.ps and logs in various stages of decay. 

 These I was systematically tearing apart when I found the specimen " 



A colony of Carphophis apparently is well established in the marl prairie 

 north of Castalia, in Erie County. The conservative way to exp'ain this 

 snake's presence in the extreme northern part of the state and at such a long 

 distance from all other records, is to presume that it was accidently introduced 

 by human agency. Worm snakes are so secretive that it is not difficult to 

 imagine several specimens (or perhaps only a single female with ripening eggs) 

 being carried in the "balled" roots of nursery stock or other vegetation to a 

 new locality where habitat conditions are suitable for a colony to develop and 

 thrive. The University of Michigan has a specimen from near Castalia 

 (UMMZ 95933); there are others in the collection at the Stone Laboratory, 

 at Put-in-Bay, and upon which Walker is planning to report in the near future. 



The worm snake from near Marietta (OSM 864) was being swallowed by 

 a racer (Coluber c. constrictor) when it was first seen. The two snakes were 

 in an old apple orchard in the uplands not far from the west bank of the 

 Muskingum River. 



Including the fifty-six worm snakes that were reported upon in the first 

 edition, there are now ninety-one individuals from Ohio available for study* 

 An analysis of these shows that the prefrontals and internasals are separate in 

 32 instances (allowing two counts, one left and one right, for each snake), 

 they are completely fused in 143 instances, and are partly fused (although 



* Excluding specimens from Castalia. 



